Indeed, injection molding is an important enough application to boast a number of specialty codes, including C-Flow from Advanced CAE Technology Inc. (Ithaca, N.Y.), Moldflow from Moldflow Ltd. (Kilsyth, Australia), and Poly3D from Rheotek Inc. (Cap Rouge, Quebec, Canada).

In the metals industry, Alcoa Corp. (Pittsburgh) has studied high-production-rate aluminum die casting. In a process similar to injection molding, a mass of molten aluminum is injected into a die and solidifies within a few milliseconds. CFD software predicts how that material flows after it is shot into the die, which determines the quality of the final part.

In their quest for more aerodynamic designs, automakers are using CFD to get a look at the airflow around their cars. Honda has used a code developed in-house to study its new $58,000 Acura NSX sportscar and Nissan has used the technique for its new Cefiro model.

Fluids codes are also providing an internal view of combustion processes. A specialty code called Speed was developed at the mechanical engineering department of the Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine (London), with financial support from automakers Austin-Rover, Fiat, Renault, Volkswagen, and Volvo. The package more accurately models the swirling flow that occurs inside a cylinder head and has been used to create animated films showing the evolution of a flame front following ignition. The program can plot Eulerian scalar fields showing fuel concentration in the unburnt gas after combustion, which can be used to predict engine knock.